THE RYAN REPORT: Shifting gears from football to futbol

Published 8:00 pm, Thursday, September 10, 2009

I'm back from visiting the various preseason soccer camps around the city and if the optimism I witnessed holds true, well, it could be a year where futbol is as popular as football.

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Trinity Catholic is thinking postseason for the first time in, well at least in my time of covering the high school scene. Coach Bob Pepe mentioned making the tourment after a scrimmage against King last week. Even though, the Crusaders lost Tomas Botero — one of the best players to wear the green and gold. Usually, Pepe has down-played the prospects because his roster is usually very slim, but if he see's oppurtunity, it would be nice to see the Crusaders have another winning program.

One of the things the Crusaders need to overcome: A 27-match, non-winning streak that dates back to Sept. 17, 2007, when they beat Harding, 4-1.

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Down the street from the Trinity campus, on Strawberry Hill Ave., Stamford's practice was filled with hope, too.

One of the new players who spawned my interest is Marc Guirand, who will be bringing his skills to the soccer field after running cross country. If you have ever seen Guirand play basketball, you know the only thing holding in the gym some nights is the roof. With this big man lurking around the goal on corner kicks, the Black Knights may be a hard-to-stop force.

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Back up the street on the campus of King Low Heywood Thomas, another run towards a Fairchester Athletic Association title would not be out of the question. In fact, the Vikings have been in three straight finals against Rye Country Day School.

King's coach John Chiavaroli, however, is using a new tactic to keep his team performing on a high level. He returned from a year-long sabbatical to South Africa (Click here to read that story) and found the team was still with the program technically, but decided that to make sure they were on as high a level fitness-wise, as well.

He first instituted a weight-lifting program and then he brought attention to his team's nutrition. He has them carrying lunch boxes with five small meals, drinking 20 ounces of water when they wake up in the morning and digesting energy gels before practice. He has even given time for snacks during practice in an effort to keep blood sugar up during training and even in games.

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Meanwhile, across town, as has been written before by The Stamford Times sports editor John Nash, many eyes will be on Westhill, a program that seemingly spun out of control during the last two seasons.

Joe Andrews is the man who will be entrusted with bringing this proud program back, moving up from years of coaching at the JV level.

I met him for the first time last week and he seems to be uniquely qualified since he has coached most of the players both on the field and has dealt with them in school as a counselor. There may have been too much of a contrast between the last two coaches in their style and Andrews may be more in the middle to bring the needed discipline with some added patience.

One bit a good news early: In a preseason poll Westhill is rated in the top half on the FCIAC rankings.